Workroom boxes

It seems the main characters in my projects are, somehow, my alter ego.  A bit worrying?  Ellen, therefore, is super-organised. Not for her a chaotic workroom..... a place for everything and everything in its place.

Here's the wood I bought on Sunday converted into boxes on Monday.

This is the old counter which she uses in the workroom for all sorts of things and it needs to be kept as clutter free as possible.

The boxes in the counter were simply made by cutting five pieces of wood and gluing them together.  At this thinness they can be easily cut with a craft knife.

I rounded off the edges with 200 grade sandpaper and gave them a couple of coats of the 'shed' paint and a final rub down with wire wool. You might know the top row of cubby holes in the counter were slightly larger than the bottom ones, so I had to figure out two sets of dimensions.  The labels were just printed on my computer using a small setting.   Ellen had to make them using cardboard and a steady hand with pen and Indian Ink.

The box beside the counter with the rolls of fabric was made in the same way.  This time I painted it with one coat of a mix of green acrylic paint and water-based matt varnish.  I then added a bit of brown and went over it again while it was still wet.  I wanted it to end up looking like mucky old wood.  Looks OK to me.

The rolls of fabric are made from chopped up bamboo BBQ skewers and strips of three inch (36 inch wide dressmaker's) fabric.  I put small spots of glue here and there as I rolled them up to keep them in place.  I am sure you could do it by pre-soaking in spray starch or hair spray, but this was easier, dries faster and doesn't show.  I gently coated the tops of the fabric edges with a little glue so no stray threads give the game away.  The top edges look like proper selvedges.

The wall unit above the counter was originally in my Wentworth bathroom.  I had already added a towel rail under it that I had to pry off.  Super-glue works really well sometimes!  I then made four cardboard rolls to go on the rail.  These are a straightforward construction of rolled paper for the tube centre and two discs with a hole in the centre for each end.  Sounds easy,  but they were very fiddly.  If you were making these in any number, or if you are already a crafter with paper tools, any cutter which would do the two circles would be a joy.  I bodged away with embroidery scissors.  I then rolled on dental floss (!) for string, half of some white bias binding for some broad bias fabric which would be used in all kinds of ways when making hats and in dressmaking and two stiff tapes that I have that look a bit like buckram.  Again, all these were rolled on using spots of glue to keep them in place.  

The storage boxes on the shelves are made from a small basket printie.  I made them in paper and painted them with matt varnish to strengthen and finish them.  I added labels like before.  The shelves also have a basket of leather strips used for belts and trimming.  Yes, they are real leather.  There are some squares which look like felt made out of a glass cleaning cloth.  I attached a hook and scissors for good measure and  I will add a couple of tins or boxes or glass jars to fill the odd spaces at some time.

Another reason for having this storage was so that I didn't have to buy masses and masses of haberdashery stuff.  I might buy a few things and pad out the boxes in some way and add a couple of things to the top of them so they look as though they contain what they should.  I don't know how you can tell they are empty, but I think you can.  It is slightly less obvious now they are in situ at the back of the room.

This photo was taken in my half-finished light box.... that's a post for another time.